Looting swept the city but the effects of the strike were handled, in the main, by an amateur police force organized by Harvard students. Calvin Coolidge, the governor of Massachusetts, called out the militia to help the students keep law and order as best they could.

The police went on strike to protest at changes in the demands being placed upon them. Society increasingly demanded a more professional police force and not a force openly willing to flout the law in order to catch criminals.

The police force was being brought into the civil service framework. Officers were to receive training for the first time.

In the event, it seems that public order didn't break down, as some newspapers at the time reported. The damage was mainly to buildings.

Calvin Coolidge benefited from his actions and used it in his successful campaign to become president.